Russia Says Strikes on Syrian Army Threaten US-Russian Ceasefire Plan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said Sunday the airstrikes by a US-led coalition on Syrian army forces threatened the implementation of a ceasefire plan for Syria and urged Washington to thoroughly investigate the accident.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that US jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in four airstrikes by two F-16s and two A-10s coming from the direction of Iraq.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain, cited a military source at Deir ez-Zor airport as saying at least 90 Syrian soldiers had been killed, Reuters reported.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a strongly worded statement that the strikes were "on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance with Daesh (ISIL) terrorists."
It said the incident was a result of Washington's "stubborn refusal" to cooperate with Moscow in fighting Daesh, the Nusra Front – now renamed Jabhat Fatah al-Sham - and "other terrorist groups."
